Hindering Memories
by Xagrok
Summary: What if the main character never lost his memories? AU with spoilers for the Story of Mystery Dungeon 2. May contain a M/M romance in later chapters.
1. Prologue

The storm was horrible; the gusts threw their bodies around like they were puppets in the hands of grown-ups. Okay, scratch that: Grown-ups would have been careful as the puppets could have cost a lot of money; or they could mean a lot to their children. The sea was violent as well, seemingly trying to crash and burst the two figures that were thrown around, the howl of said storm loud in their ears.

"Whoa! Wh-whoa! A-are you okay?" one of the figures screamed in a more than worried voice. It seemed like the other creature had lost its consciousness though. "Hang in there now! Don't you dare giving up on me!" The pleas were sounding more and more desperate. Suddenly, lightning struck and everything faded to white. When the darkness of the night returned, the unconscious figure was nowhere to be seen. The other one seemed to have blacked out as well…

Peaceful. Everything was so… quiet. The creature opened its eyes, looking around in a searching manner. After scanning the area briefly, it tried to arise – without much success. The fatigue was just too great.

"Where... are you? We… we made it… Or, I made it… but where… are… you…? Damn… Too tired…" With lots of will, it turned its head, staring at the sunset in awe. "So… beautiful…" it managed to mumble before the unconsciousness numbed its mind once more.


	2. Chapter 1: Thieves

„Hm… What to do…" Calan tilted his head questioningly. He paced nervously, sometimes looking at the gate in front of him. It had been his dream for some years to join the famous Wigglytuff guild, though he has never found the courage to even enter it.

"Okay, this is it. Today, I'm gonna enter and ask whether I can or not!" It took him some strength, but he felt proud after saying it. Not thinking about his fear, he positioned himself over the grid. After the voice who identified him shouted up though, he panicked and quickly distanced himself from the covered pit. Calan then tried to calm down, starting with stopping his hyperventilating. After normalizing a bit, he hung his head low once more. "Seems like I can't do it anyway, eh?" he sighed, pulling out a strange object. "I thought it would help me taking my precious treasure with me… Seems like that doesn't work though."

Feeling a little depressed, he decided to walk to the beach. After all, it always managed to cheer him up, especially during the evening, when the sun set above the sparkling sea and even more so when the Krabby decorated the air with their bubbles. And when he arrived, he was greeted by the exact sight he was hoping for. The crimson sun was about to touch the horizon, the sea took on its coloura and the Krabby added some rainbow-gleaming bubbles. It was simply breathtaking. The feeling of the soft and yet somewhat rough sand underneath his paws added to the beauty as much as the salty and vivid smell of the water carried to him by a gentle breeze and the soft sound of the waves gently splashing against the few rocks on the beach accompanied by some coughs and moans of –

Wait a second. The Krabby never moaned, they were bubbling after all. He never heard of moaning waves as well and the water wasn't deep enough for a sea prankster. That meant he wasn't alone on the beach. He scanned the area with his eyes and carefully moved on a little, searching for the source of the sounds. After some minutes, he found someone lying in the sand, seemingly asleep. Or unconscious? Calan approached the creature with caution and experimentally touched it. Its eyelids fluttered open and its mouth released another moan. When the red orbs locked on him, he saw the figure stiffen. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Are you okay? This place seems rather inappropriate for a nap after all…" he said, trying to sound confident.

"… Who are you? And how did I get here? And, most importantly… Why do you seem so tall?" Judging by the sound of the voice, Calan´s vis-à-vis was male as well. "Well, first thing, I'm Calan. It's nice to meet you too", he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice,"I don't have the slightest idea how you got here. And I may seem so tall because you passed out and are still lying in the sand. We Shinx aren't titans after all and you Riolu can't claim to be either." he finished while rolling his eyes. The Riolu froze, rising Calan's worry again.

"What… did you just say?" the Riolu asked with horror in his voice. "I mean, you're joking, right? I'm a human after all" "My, aren't we funny. You're a Riolu and probably always were. What's with you being a human? Did you hit your head?... Hey, I didn't mean to offend you… Hey, are you alright?" The Riolu started to shake violently, his eyes filled with fear, confusion, realization when he looked at his paws, and finally, utter horror. Tears welled up in his eyes and he blacked out again. Maybe this guy wasn't joking? But that was crazy! Humans were almost extinct and they surely weren't capable of transforming, let alone not even noticing they were doing it. But the fact that this guy seemed seriously confused remained, especially since the facts seemed to knock him out cold.

Well, it wasn't like Calan could do something about it, so he decided to believe him for now. And seeing as that strange person wasn't quite active, he decided to stay by his side until he awoke again. That was until he heard a faint sound behind him, from the direction of the beach entrance. Was that… A pair of wings? He decided to turn around, but before he could do anything, he was violently thrown back by something that felt like a Tackle. After the pain subsided, he opened his eyes to look at his attackers and what he saw was entirely unpleasant to his eyes.

"Woa-ho-ho!" the Koffing laughed as the Zubat picked up his valued treasure. "This was even easier than we thought! You're nothing but a pushover, eh?"

"Wh-Why you! Drop my treasure at once!"

"Or what? You'll punish us? Don't make us laugh. You couldn't even bring yourself to enter that guild. You are just standing there, trembling with fear, and trying to threaten us? This has to be one of the best jokes I've ever heard" The two poison-types laughed in unison. "Come on, Koffing; let's leave this crying baby here." Zubat told his companion and pointed his head towards the Beach Cave.

_M-Maybe they were right… I didn't even try anything to stop them. It seems like I only have my big mouth after all…_ He thought. Just after finishing that process, he noticed that the Riolu awakened again. And he stared at him. "What, are you going to mock me too?" "I wouldn't know why I should do that. After all, my story is even more unbelievable… But it is just as I said it. I am… or rather, was a human being. Why I've changed, I don't know."

Calan tilted his head questioningly. "So you don't remember anything at all? Not even your name?" He was a little surprised at the hesitation Riolu showed towards him, but it faded away so quickly that he wondered if he had just imagined it. "It may be that I've lost all of my memories… But I may serve with an answer about my name. As human, I was called Sotoridas; we might as well take that for now. Just another thing I should mention… Shouldn't you at least try to get that rock back?"

This question made the Shinx frown. He knew he should, but… These guys were scary. And they were two; his chances were rather bad as they could drive him into a pinch easily by surrounding him. Unless… "Hey, Soto?" "Soto?" "Come on, Sotoridas is just way too long. Anyways, I need you to help me retrieve my item. Please! It's really important to me!" He even bowed down to him. If that strange Pokémon wasn't going to help him, there was no way he could get the rock, as Soto called it, back. As he rose his eyes, the once human was thinking. After a little while, he agreed which greatly lifted his spirits. "Okay, then, let's do this!"

The Riolu tried to rise to his feet, but looked rather pained as he tried to stand on his entire foot. He really seemed to have transformed. "Uhm, you're no longer human, remember? You have to rise up to your paw pads to stand." That made sense to Soto and he seemed to have a much easier time walking like that. But just walking as even though Calan tried to hurry him, he tumbled and made them realize that he wasn't accustomed to the new body shape yet. As they walked through the cave precariously, he helped the two-legged Pokémon by letting him lean onto him, and he gladly accepted. He also noticed the jackal Pokémon didn't use his tail, thus advising him to utilize it to control his balance. Soto had to wag it experimantally at first, but moving around seemed much easier after that.

That was until they stumbled upon a Shellos which didn't seem to happy with the unwelcomed guests. "Hey! This is my part of the cave – Get out of here right now!" it yelled. It was actually rather amusing, though not as much as it tackled Soto after seeing it as less of a threat. They both had to dodge but split up. Soto seemed to let his instincts – maybe carried over from his human life? – take over as he stopped himself on the ground with his feet and one paw, sprinting forward and landing a solid punch into the snail's side. The lion cub helped him by ramming his body into it as well, followed by a bite which knocked the aggressive Pokémon out. After some seconds he realized the Riolu's movement development and grinned at him. "You seem to be able to accustom yourself easily to new challenges, eh? Same thing with you becoming a Pokémon. After the blackout, you're taking this rather well." Soto looked away, almost perfectly hiding his grin. "Well, maybe that's just how I am? Anyway, less flattery, more search. Unless you don't mind losing your precious rock, that is." Calan didn't know how to respond to this and just nodded his head in agreement. On their way, they met some other inhabitants of the cave. They didn't mind though as every fight helped Soto in adjusting to his new form. And he seemed like he was powerful, at least judging by his punches and, later on, kicks. "I think I'm now okay with this body", he said content. "That was pretty fast." replied Calan admiringly. "Well, maybe I'm just a really fast learner. As I said." Well, how could either of them complain? Victory was now almost certain after all. After something like the quarter of an hour from Calan's thoughts, they arrived in the depths of Beach Cave. And the thieves were there as well, looking at the fragment in front of them with puzzled faces.

"Hey, Koffing. You think there's some secret to this thing? It doesn't seem valuable at all!" "Maybe if we break it? Some gems may come out and we could sell 'em!" That angered the Shinx. How dare they! Even though it wasn't in the plan Soto had constructed in a couple of seconds – which was something amazing as well, but he didn't exactly have time to think about that right now – he jumped out, growling a little at the villains. "Don't you even think about it. I demand that you return this item to me right now, or else…" "Or what? You're a pipsqueak. A pushover. Lame and uninteresting. We're two and you… Whoa-ho-ho, now look at that, Zubat! It seems like you have awakened your Sleeping Beauty! Maybe even with a kiss?" Calan turned around and saw Soto standing there with a look that clearly said that he should have sticked to the plan. But he ignored him in his rage. "What? That doesn't matter! We're going to beat you up and take it back by force if you don't cooperate!"

Zubat and Koffing just blinked and looked at each other, then started laughing. After a while, they stopped and just grinned. "So be it. Come at us with everything you got – even if it's going to be nothing before our power!" And both parties charged at each other for battle.


	3. Chapter 2: Retrieving the precious thing

**Disclaimer: I much as I'd love to, I don't own Pokémon, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2 and its characters or story. The only things I own are the deviations in this story and in the personalities of the characters.**

**Oh, and the heavy plot spoilers may begin here. I'll try to hold back, but if you'd like to continue reading, it's a risk you have to take.**

Well, all of this started off just _great_. First I was separated, then turned into a Pokémon and even found by an inhabitant and now I'm even trying to help him. Well, the last part was in a quick plan I had invented quickly. It was filled with flaws, but I can at least defend myself with the fact that I just had to get over a huge shock and learn how to move in this body like a newborn child. Considering my status, it was as embarrassing as having to wear diapers again without disease or being an old geezer. At least I've always been used to adapting to new circumstances – after all, where I come from, people who shared the same goal as me and weren't capable of doing so were quickly eradicated. It was fortunate back then when a plan worked.

The same could be said here. That hothead cub over there just discarded my plan after listening to the two brutes who took his rock. My, I was starting to wonder if it actually had valuable things inside as well. Things like food, at least these were important back when I was still human. I figured that maybe I'd find out if I helped him, but… well, as I said. My plan. Shattered. In just some seconds. And I told it. And I think Calan could see that in my eyes as well, even if he didn't seem to care all that much. So after declaring their silly little war, they charged at him and I needed to defend myself as well. Seeing as the hothead chose Koffing (And I could understand that after that Tackle on the beach), I had to deal with Zubat. Maybe these punks even decided that on themselves, seeing as Zubat was a flying-type and super-effective against me and Calan couldn't do much against the physically bulky Poison gas Pokémon as he didn't seem to know any special attacks. "Just great…" I sighed before evading a Wing Attack and a Bite. As I jumped back, the Bat charged at me again, hoping to hit me unprepared, but I landed one more punch, which seemed to surprise him as someone like me should only know Quick Attack. I didn't try to use attacks however; learning how to stand was enough for the time already and it wasn't like I didn't know self defense. One more thing that everyone like me had back then.

"Ha! You only managed to get a hit on me because you surprised me!" the annoying bat said in his pitched voice. "It won't have any effect the next time!" I found myself grinning condescendingly. Like that guy knew what fighting for your life was like. "We'll see about that", I answered while charging at the bat. The other two were making enough noise and Zubat had good ears for their nonexistent eyes. I hoped to distract this cocky bat with chatter so it couldn't hear me approaching and it was working. At the same time, I tried to remember how Pokémon used Quick Attack as they could be more effective than mere human-style punches and kicks. My partner always seemed to tense his leg muscles and then suddenly start running. This charging system seemed to continue being effective until the attack was either successful, stopped by will or interfered with. Thus, I slowed down and tried it myself while continuing to babble. The Zubat wasn't as stupid as I hoped, though, and noticed something was off. He tried to throw a Supersonic at me which I luckily evaded, though I wasn't as fortunate with his bite. And it seemed different than in theory, because even considering type effectiveness that hurt. A lot. I could have seen that coming, but it caught me off guard and made me stumble and stop. Not that my Quick Attack attempt during all this was successful, but the pain at least sharpened my senses.

The bat had combined its Bite with a Leech Life. The realization hit me when I saw it lick its mouth while feeling something warm running down my arm. I could ignore the pain, however – I've been through much worse, trust me – and attempt the attack again. I braced myself for what was to come, used my leg muscles – and it worked this time, like I always knew how to do it. As if my mind was blocking my body. The Zubat couldn't seem to follow my steps as I ran around it for distraction. And even though it wasn't slow, its attention was sloppy as it couldn't evade my Quick Attack fueled punch and kick series which knocked it out cold. And not a second too fast because a blinding light just decided to show up. There could be only one source and even though I was wheezing – this body was so much less trained, holy Miltank, even considering the fights in the cave before – I had to help that idiot.

* * *

Well, didn't things just go peachy. After choosing Koffing as my opponent, I left Soto with a disadvantage. I didn't have time to worry about him, though, as the poison type crashed into me with a speed I wouldn't have imagined, sending me into a wall. I held back a scream; at least my bones didn't seem to be breaking, though they took the chance to complain. I wasn't used to fighting after all; maybe I should train before joining –

Wait, I had absolutely no time for that, especially after landing so hard on the floor. I rose to my feet shakily and shook my head a little, and when I saw that thief attacking again, I evaded it. And I may not be that strong or defensive, but I had speed – I used to run away a lot - , not really that much but enough for that Slowpoke. The only reason he hit me before was because I wasn't anticipating that he was faster than other Koffing, at least as much as I'd heard of them. After speeding past me, I used the chance to counter him with a Bite in which I put all my power. I was coughing a little due to the poisonous gas he emitted from his holes, but it at least seemed to pain him as well. I backed off and he seemed to just shake the bite off as if hardly anything had happened, still laughing dirtily. He then increased the pollution which suddenly seemed to aim at me. I may not be a battle expert, but it was obvious enough to me that this was his Smog attack, so I ran away from the gas as he also tried to use a Smokescreen to take my sight.

Breathing became hard in this dirtied air and seeing wasn't that easy either. Fortunately, Smog wasn't infinitely homing so I misdirected it easily before I got into this mess. And because we moved away from the other battle with ours, the noise didn't bother me as I used my ears to locate that factory chimney ting. As I said, it was so basic to me; it was just as if my instincts had taken over just like they seemed to do with Soto earlier. Thus, I was once more able to dodge the incoming Tackle and counter with a Bite. And even though this seemed to hurt my opponent a lot more, he still seemed a little unimpressed while ramming my body into the wall again before I could retreat. Wow! Such pain! I was very exhausted, but straightened up again, even more shaken than before. The Smokescreen had worn off by now so that I saw from the corner of my eye that Soto seemed to land his final hits on Zubat with a technique I personally haven't seen before. I quickly took a mental note to not anger that guy when I noticed I started to shine brightly, even blindingly, judging by Koffing's self-muffled screams. I remembered that thing about my species, this happened when we were in a pinch. We somehow charged up electricity to blind our foes and normally ran away. But I couldn't let that happen and after the first flash was over, I located the thief and charged at him. Just then I noticed that Soto helped me and we finished Koffing of with a Tackle of mine and a Quick Attack of his, sending him into the wall and finally defeating him. When we realized that, we fell down, breathing heavily; especially me after Koffing's smoking combination. When we weren't gasping for air anymore, I went over to my precious treasure, smiling cheerfully and picking it up. Then I heard some motion behind me and immediately turned around – you should learn from your mistakes after all. The thieves were already airborne again, but without making any attempt to snatch my precious again. I still was careful and already got into a defensive stance.

* * *

"Woa-ho-ho! How could we lose to someone like you?!" The grins on their faces seemed strained. "Hehehe! We won't forget this! We'll pay you back for this insolence… We will definitely get our revenge!" With these words, they ran off at the speed of light. Soto and Calan were relieved even though they were prepared to fight. "That's right; we need to get out of here… If we try walking through here during the night and wake the inhabitants of Beach Cave up, we're in for a whole lot of trouble – if they call upon other Pokémon, it will even be doubled." That made sense to Calan and they escaped through the entrance as fast as possible. By now, night had indeed fallen upon the land and a big moon was hanging in the sky, lighting the water up and making the sea sparkle, even more as it reflected the stars shining bright above them. It was only then that both of them relaxed completely and as the adrenaline stopped being pumped into their bodies, they felt everything again: Exhaustion, pain, fear and happiness, all at the same time. It felt good, even though they were still sweating a little from the previous events. But they both smiled at each other.

"We did it… We really did it! We showed them we're much stronger than we look!" But Calan noticed he was the only one cheering. And Soto turned around. "Well, it was actually quite useful to help you. Thanks for allowing me to get accustomed to everything… But I think it's better if I get going now." This saddened the Shinx and he decided to net let this opportunity slip past him. "Where? I thought you lost all of your memories. You don't know where you're from or where to go. You could stay with me… Oh wait!" he exclaimed as the idea hit him like Koffing's Tackle before, "I know! We could form an Exploration Team?" He didn't notice the little flinch of the Riolu as he mentioned the memories, but it was hard to overlook the tension. "And why would I do that? What is an Exploration Team in the first place?" he shot back, mildly aggressive. That didn't discourage him though; the idea was just too thrilling. "Exploration Teams are just great! You get to see many places, explore unknown dungeons, and find many treasures! It's a job with lots of fun, adventure and so on! Please, you have to make a team with me!" he said while trying his best puppy eyes. Soto was thinking, and then he seemed to realize something. "Wait… We could go to every place we want? At any time we want?" "Well…" Calan hesitated. He wanted to join the guild, and it was famous for its harsh training. You had to stick to everything the guild master – Who was, judging from rumors, a really strict Pokémon – said, and it was supposed to be really hard to get into and even stay in the guild. But if he told him that, he may never agree… "Of course you can! And it's lots of fun! Please…"

That's when Soto started to chuckle. It sounded a little dark, but that could just be his imagination. Or not, seeing the smile that formed on the canine muzzle. "Fine, I'll humor you with this guild thing. It might even help me, even in regaining my memories. But first…" And he raised his paws, "I realize we're both pretty worn out, but the first condition is that you'll have to beat me. I think I could have had more experience when I was a human, but you don't seem half bad yourself, and especially because we're worn out, this should be quick. And no matter the outcome of the fight, you are going to tell me about this rock. You raised my curiosity there."

Calan was happy. And there was nothing wrong with all this as far as he could tell. He also readied himself, agreed and with the speed of their Quick Attacks, they again charged at each other to determine their partnership.


	4. Chapter 3: Birth of a new Team

**Disclaimer: I much as I'd love to, I don't own Pokémon, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2 and its characters or story. The only things I own are the deviations in this story and in the personalities of the characters.**

**Oh, and new, obsessed or attentive people might have noticed some small changes in Chapter 1. This might happen more often if I notice plot holes or missing details. It's no need to search everything again and again as I'll probably announce when something's been edited, but sometimes I feel that these edits are necessary.**

I rose to my feet, panting heavily. His body lay before me, wheezing desperately. "It seems like… You won…" he acknowledged. Even though I preferred not to fight, I couldn't help but grin. As soon as I regained my breath, I walked over to him, helping him arise as well. "You weren't too bad." I admitted,"though I was better, it seems. So my part of the bargain is to be fulfilled, without you complaining the least bit."

He gritted his teeth, holding back his anger, at least a little. It seems he was a little less mature than he acted like, though not as immature as one would think as he hid his emotions pretty well. Maybe he had to do this a lot, I'm rather sure it wasn't his first time. _Well, that's not really much of my problem_, I thought as I stretched my worn-out body. I wasn't as rusty as I thought – Sure, I was almost K. O., but I couldn't show that as the winner. I was playing cool, but I could have just as well fallen over into the still warm sand, sleeping through the morning like I didn't have a job to do.

In the meantime, he had calmed down. He was looking at me with sad, but impressed eyes. "Oh, don't give me that look, Calan", I said while rolling my eyes, "You know, for the beating you took by Koffing you were doing very well. I was wondering if he hadn't smashed your bones to pieces, but you don't seem too bad. I, on the other hand, was merely hit by a Bite and a Leech Life, nothing that would have damaged you too much either."

I wasn't even saying that out of sympathy. I couldn't afford myself too much compassion back then either and just because I was safe for the moment, I could not let my guard down. It was a neutral, objective observation. And I was even surprised at myself that I could hold up against him; while going through the cave, he had told me that he had little to no experience in combat… This progress of his was impressive indeed. Of course, I had a lot more exercise as a human, but I was worried because o this new form, though it didn't hinder me as much as I had feared in the beginning. And then, an idea formed in my mind and I held back that mischievous grin that wanted to form on my mouth – err, muzzle. Of course, it was dirty of me and I would not want to get too attached to the cub, but his proposal of these "Exploration Teams" was tempting. If I was a human, I would have pushed up my glasses to mask my emotions – a habit that gave me the nickname "bespectacled varmint". Too bad, but it was a rather small downside.

I noticed that my mind had wandered off enough, though not long, but the little one looked on the verge of tears. I was trying to avoid the flooding by asking him about the rock. He blinked a few times, sniffed again (He was still depressed? My, that was going to be fun when I told him about my plan. Except not, he would probably strangle my in a hug – or whatever Shinx would do in a situation like that) and took his precious belonging out, carefully and gently placing it into the sand so the flat part was showing to the sky. I got a little closer, fascinated by the pattern inscribed – or rather, etched into as there wasn't any paint as far as I could tell – into this little piece of rock.

"This is my most precious thing in the whole world. I found it by chance, as weird as that sounds, and it was so pretty that I decided to take it. There wasn't even someone to complain as I expected there to be; I even searched the area to see if the Pokémon who surely lost it was still there, but that wasn't the case. So I left a note there, saying where I would be, but as you see, if someone indeed lost it, it wasn't important enough to retrieve it, so as I said, I simply decided to keep it."

That was a little strange, or as that just me? "So… it doesn't have any special power?"

"Nope, not that I know of."

"And you just keep it because you like how it looks?"

"Eeyup."

"But… Uhm, how do I put this? Oh right, why would you keep it then? It's unhandy. It's a rock. I agree that it's fascinating, but I think it's just too bothersome to carry it around the whole time. Wouldn't you agree?" I don't know why it was so important to me, it just seemed to… relevant. Like it was the key to something; and I couldn't shake of the feeling. What even amazed me more as I look back is that I simply ignored that feeling which was completely unusual for me – after that many life-endangering situations, you learn to listen to what your guts are telling you.

"Well… I'm not too sure myself. But I like to think of it as a lucky charm. Of course", he interrupted, looking me directly in the eyes," I don't know if it really works. But that's the fun in it. And it's not too heavy either."

Good, talking about it has calmed him down indeed. Now to approach the difficult task of telling someone like him that I want to fulfill his dream – at least until I've achieved my own goal, of course. I decided to tease him a little more, even risking regretting it. I rose to my feet, now even standing pretty steadily, and turned around, thanking him for the information and acting as if I was going away. I heard him sniff again, trying hard to stay cool, and then I suddenly stopped. "You know…" I started. I could almost feel his stare, it was that intense. "What you said earlier sounded rather intriguing… How about we still form a Team? You could ev-"I wasn't able to finish the sentence as he crashed into me. Quite surprising… I mean, notice that speed! Well, he was now crying openly, but also laughing. Interesting.

"Okay, you are happy, I get it." I managed to gasp. "Now get off of me, unless you want to get rid of me before we can execute this plan of yours" And I was able to breathe properly again. A relief… But we'll have to work on these outbursts. "Look, first you should learn to control your temper or you'll kill me with that exaggerated joy – or maybe anger or sadness if that should happen. But hey, I can be nice, too. So I've decided that you may even be the boss here and I'll be the obedient co-worker. How does that sound? In return, you'll help me, of course." It wasn't the most brilliant plan, but this fighting and learning and… well, _everything_ was very tiresome. As I mentioned before, I could just fall over right now and if I understand everything correctly, there are beds where we're supposed to go to. Maybe even food. I may be used to not eating anything, but food was always nice. And this guy seemed not too suspicious (More like overexcited and gullible) and the probability of him being an agent was next to zero. If anything went wrong, he had to take responsibility as the leader. Furthermore, an Exploration Team was far less suspicious than one Pokémon on its own… I only had to find a reason to explain my actions to him and to get him to assist me, but that could wait for now. There were only good sides to this at the moment.

The leadership seemed surprising to Calan, and there might have been a little guilt in his eyes, but I could have been mistaken. "Okay", he said eagerly, "let's go! Off to Wigglytuff's guild!"

* * *

When we were on our way, ascending the grand stairs, I had to restrain myself a lot. The first reason was of course the beating we both took from each other (And these thieves) and we both were almost ready to instantly start sleeping… Thinking of that, why were this stairs so darn long? I really felt like complaining and cursing even though it never bothered me before… Breathe, I told myself. Breathe, you lazy idiot. You'll join that guild today! Which was the second reason. With somebody at my side, they just had to accept me! Okay, with one whiny, shy scaredy-cub like me a refusal would be more than understandable, but they now had a powerful and intelligent young Riolu as well. This put me in really high spirits. Even Soto seemed happy while climbing these ridiculous stairs. He didn't know about this world and surely was looking forward to finding out more.

We finally reached the hill's peak – looking down, it still wasn't as high as I thought, but you have to consider we almost fainted – and Soto looked rather impressed by the building. "Wait… This is supposed to be a great guild and that's all? Just this tiny tent?" Well, that at least told me that he was being sarcastic. Yay, this was going to be great… But it's true. You'd expect more from a famous guild than a plain, though big tent in the shape of a Wigglytuff whose mouth served as the entrance (Even if it was blocked by bars; probably to stop intruders or thieves – not that they'd have any chance) with two torches burning before it. The fact that everything was on the top of a cliff didn't help, it's not like they could shrink to make it bigger or hide some extra buildings behind the image of this group's leader.

"Of course not. I think. I haven't been there myself yet. But I know for a fact that we'll have to step onto that grid first." He didn't look convinced. "And you're sure you can't fall through? These gaps are… Uhm, big." "Absolutely. And we need to enter this building and register, it's necessary for forming a team. Now stop being that anxious. Here, I'll even go first." Whoa, was I crazy? How could I say something like that when I backed out just some hours ago? I gulped. I couldn't just take my word back now – I had to be brave, so I pulled myself together and stepped on this death trap. Then, I heard Soto flinch as the voices shouted up.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Shinx'! The footprint is Shinx'!"

"Wait", Soto interfered. "Who are they? And why…"

"… You may ENTER. But someone's with you. So get that stranger to stand up THERE!"

"… He must mean me? How charming. How the heck does that Pokémon even see me? There isn't someone besides me… And that grid looks strange. Like I could fall through or like it could tickle my feet…" His voiced thoughts were interrupted by this loud male voice again. "Hey you! Stranger! Get on the GRATE!" He sighed and obeyed. And this whole game restarted.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is… The footprint is… Uhm…" How strange. Well, okay, it wasn't that strange. Riolu were rather rare – or, to phrase it in a better way, _undiscovered_ (There may still be a hidden colony in a cave or something like that) and I also only knew of them because of a very rare book I once read at my parent's place. It could be that this book was now destroyed because of a small accident, but that wasn't of importance right now. The timid voice seemed to have guessed the jackal's footprint and the two of them were arguing right now. Then, a heavy sigh could be heard.

"Well, this is UNUSUAL. Normally, Diglett would recognize ANY footprint. But you two don't seem SUSPICIOUS…" He was thinking for a second before continuing. "Alright, you two may ENTER." And with that, the gate of the tent opened. And there was my nervousness again. But I've come so far – there's no way I'd back out again! So I motioned over for Soto to move. When we got into this strange tipi – how else would you call it? – We discovered a ladder. It was even put there in a way so that a four-legged Pokémon like me was able to descend with ease. When we both got down, we saw a huge floor with some Pokémon still working at this hour. This room was big; there were other Pokémon standing around like a Wurmple and a Swellow (For whatever reason that would happen), a Sunflora and various others. The rocky walls were decorated with vines and there were two boards, probably for missions judging by the teams grouping before them.

"Wow… So this is Wigglytuff's guild? So many Pokémon!" Even I could hear the sparkles in my eyes; for me, it was the fulfillment of my dreams; no, even better! I was thrilled, looking around. The amount of Pokémon in here (And there really weren't many) seemed to unease Soto, but there was no reason for that. When I was about to ask him about that, we heard a singing voice behind us.

"Excuse me!" we turned around to witness a Chatot climbing up the stairs. "It was you two who just came in, right?"

"Y-yes!" I stuttered, a little nervous.

"I'm Chatot! I'm the Pokémon in the know around these parts and Master Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokémon! Now, shoo! Leave the premises! We have no time for salespeople or silly surveys. Off you go, if you please!"

This all sounded like a routine for the bird, but I couldn't let this chance slip! "No! That's not why we're here! You see, we wanted to form an exploration team. And we wanted to be trained by you."

The parrot seemed to be taken aback by this. "An exploration team, you say?" He turned around and started to mumble as if we weren't there. "And exploration team! It's rare to see youngsters like them who want to become apprentices here. Especially considering how hard our training is… A lot of these actually ran away already because it was too hard for them. I wonder if they were willing to bring me coffee, though…"

I knew I had to interrupt him, seeing how startled and perplexed Soto still was. "Uhm, is the training really so hard? We can here you; we're not deaf after all…"

Chatot flinched at this and faced us again quickly. "Oh no! No no no! The training couldn't be easier! " He began to hum contently, swinging his metronome-shaped tail to the side with a tact that showed me he had expertise with rhythm. "You should have just said so! An exploration team it will be. Now, if you will follow me! "He began hopping over to the ladder leading further down. I was a little spooked and leaned over to Soto. "He just had an astonishing change of heart, didn't he?" Soto didn't comment and simply nodded. After hearing Chatot's second invitation, he immediately followed him even deeper. Upon arriving, I saw a window and immediately ran over. "Wow! I can see the stars shining!" The bird Pokémon seemed a little annoyed at my remark. "Shoo! Of course you can see them. This guilt was built inside a cliff after all." Aaand I forgot something yet again in the fever of excitement. I really need to work on controlling my emotions. Anyway, Chatot had already announced our entry and opened the door while we followed him inside, closing it again.

The room was also rather big (We couldn't get a good enough glance at the previous room as Chatot hurried us in here) and anything but empty. It even had two windows which let the stars' light inside, shining upon a great treasure chest to our left filled with gems of various colors. The floor was overgrown with grass and little flowers here and there; there was a carpet in the middle with an unlit torch to each side. And on the carpet was the figure of the guild master who was looking at the cloths hanging from the wall we were facing as well. His insignia, his face, was imprinted on them. Everything looked valuable in here – He was an adventurer alright, one with enough money.

"Guild master, these two wish to become our new recruits! "Chatot sang to the pink Pokémon. Which didn't move at all. Maybe he was asleep already? Chatot didn't seem too affected. "Guild master! ...Guild master?" He was worried and moved closer, only to jump back again when Wigglytuff turned around in a flash.

"Hello there! I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the master of this guild! So, you want to start a team? Awesome! Let's get your name first!" I was caught off guard by this. This was all too fast! Wasn't he going to ask questions to test if we were worthy? I had prepared for something like this… I turned to Soto, completely puzzled. "Uh… this is sudden… Do you happen to have a good name?" He looked like he was feeling the same as me, but after thinking for a couple of seconds, he cleared his throat.

"How about… Team Lightning Nova? You're our leader, after all; we should name it like your type."

"And you're sure that's o-"

"Team Lighting Nova it is then! Register … register … Yoom-ta!" The room flashed rapidly for some seconds, the light was blinding. But when we opened our eyes again, the guild master and Chatot were smiling. "Congratulations! You are now an exploration team! Here, take this to celebrate your forming. " Wigglytuff cheered exuberant. He was not creepy at all, he was really nice? This made me wonder why everyone was so awestruck by him… Maybe he was just extremely strong and the people speaking of him challenged the Pokémon?

He had put a small box in front of us and since I was declared our leader, I carefully opened it as if a Voltorb could be hidden inside. There was nothing to fear however; it was an exploration team kit after all! There was a treasure bag where we could put our items into which I opened at once. The box held even more surprises; there was a bright yellow scarf and a vibrant orange band as well as a few berries; the kit also contained a map and an exploration badge. After explaining the basic usage of all the bigger things and berries, I asked for the clothes. "Oh, these are really useful! First of all, we can recognize you easier by using these. Special marks such as…" Chatot quickly whispered Soto's name into his ear "Soto's scar directly on his haunch there can be distinctive, but others don't have things like that and we have to rely on minimal changes in their facial structure. If we know them enough, it becomes a lot easier of course, but for starters, these are great. Oh, and before you ask why Soto still got one", Wigglytuff spoke, „It's because you are new and we want to thank you for joining! Make sure to earn lots of money! Furthermore, these scarfs have some special effects, you'll discover them while exploring. "

I looked at Soto with my eyes sparkling again. It was my biggest dream and he helped me achieve it! The look on his face was strange though, I hoped he'd talk to me later about it. I was still almost squealing with glee and cheered: "Let's always do our best, Soto!" and raised my front paw. He joined me and raised his one as well, still a bit alienated.

Chatot was hopping over to the door again, opening it once more and was motioning for us to follow his lead. We both thanked our new leader and followed him left into a corridor. There were doors right and left, he ignored them however and opened the one right in front of us. It was a small, simple room with a window and some straw.

"This will be your room while you're staying here. Make yourselves comfortable and don't stay up too long; you'll have to arise early tomorrow. And of course, you'll have to abide by the rules and do whatever we say; that should be obvious though. Start living by our strict codex tomorrow. That's all. Oh, and make me some coffee." He was away before we could ask him what he meant by that.

Our fatigue came back as sudden as lighting would and I noticed Soto was barely able to endure staying awake much longer either. So we arranged the straw into two equal beds and fell over. I placed our gifts near my bed carefully; we could put these clothes on the next day as well. I felt the need to say one last thing for the day though.

"Soto… Thank you so much for joining me, for helping and encouraging me today. I'm so glad I finally managed to go here. Starting tomorrow, there'll be a lot of things and work coming for us, but I'm hardly scared. It's the opposite, actually, I'm looking forward to all the adventures and challenges before us. You… you're probably asleep by now, aren't you? I guess.. I'll sleep… as well…" I yawned before falling asleep, my belly still full of lunch today, my mind filled with thoughts for the future and my partner right beside me.

* * *

_What the heck have I gotten myself into? Maybe I should have run away anyway… But this is an opportunity I can'tlet slip. I might even find _him_ again… And I'm much too sleepy… to do anything anyway…_ And thus, Soto also fell into the deepest sleep he had in years.

* * *

**Thanks a lot to a friend for constantly encouraging and inspiring me in this chapter! You're awesome!**


	5. Chapter 4: Expectations

**Disclaimer: I much as I'd love to, I don't own Pokémon, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2 and its characters or story. The only things I own are the deviations in this story and in the personalities of the characters.**

**Another thing is that I've hidden and will continue to hide various references, so have fun searching for them. Also, feel free to point out logical errors, typos and other things. Last, but not least: I think it'll help you to further enjoy the story if you take the specific themes playing during certain parts, like the upbeat theme of the guild or tensions during a pinch. If you'd like me to name these themes individually, just say so. And now have fun with this chapter.**

* * *

Morning came way too fast, especially considering the previous days' events. And there may have been a different reason as well.

"HEY! HEY, LISTEN! RISE AND SHINE! IT'S MOR-"the loud voice yelled before being cut off by some commotion. When I raised my aching head, I saw a violet Pokémon (Who owned the ridiculously loud vocal organ) being punched and kicked by Soto. When the loud guy tried to use Pound on my partner, he jumped back quickly and got into a defensive stance upon his bed, his whole body tense, but at the same time controlled. Why was he fighting him? He wasn't dangerous except for our nearly blasted eardrums.

"What do you intend to do here and why did you attack?" he asked after landing one more hit. I got the chills; his voice was below zero, like daggers made out of pure ice. He was clearly extremely anxious and prepared to beat everything out of the purple guy.

"Owowowowow… I'm LOUDRED. I'm an APPRENTICE too, you know. ANYWAY, why did YOU attack ME? I was only doing my DUTY by waking you up for the MORNING RITUAL. The guild master is scary when someone's LATE, and you new guys didn't show up. ANYWAY, HURRY UP AND COME OR YOU'LL FACE PUNISHMENT!" his shock seemed to have worn off and now he was angry. Extremely, my ears hurt again and my head was spinning. Soto looked very annoyed, but held another assault back. Luckily, Loudred had gone away by now.

"My ears…" I whimpered, "It hurts… He has a ridiculously loud voice indeed. Anyway" I said, turning around to my partner who was relaxed again "How did you react so quickly? And why did you assume he was meaning harm? It seems like you're used to stuff like this…"

He looked at the door, narrowing his eyes. "Don't worry about that now. Even if that idiot nearly made me deaf, he had a point… We shouldn't be late and keep Wigglytuff waiting." Blast! I had forgotten about that! We would be in a lot of trouble, so we hurried out of the room and the corridor after putting on the clothes we got the previous day (I wrapped the Yellow Band around my belly like a belt while Soto decided to put his orange one on the arm which opposed his scarred thigh), seeing various other Pokémon standing there in two rows; a Croagunk and a Dugtrio, a Chimecho and a Corphish, a Bidoof and Mr. Screamyelloud and a Sunflora with a Diglett. We took our places next to the flower and the mole with me standing behind Soto, trying to look like we've been there for a long time. These efforts were in vain after Chatot pierced us with his glance.

"You're late! All the others were here since long ago! And you don't even have coffee! What in the world kept you so long!?" I looked down, ashamed. Then Loudred had to "voice" his thoughts.

"I tried to get them to WAKE up, but one of them ATTACKED me and they were even chatting afterwards…" Chatot faced him next, piercing him with his stare. "Naturally, everyone would feel threatened. You really have a ridiculously loud voice – I still don't understand why you have to shatter and tear our eardrums apart. And now quit it, everyone!" He turned around to the door and called upon the guild master. I didn't even have time to take a glance at the assembly hall (It was as hectic as yesterday) as Wigglytuff exited his chamber, his eyes wide open, smiling like usual. Chatot asked him to hold a motivational speech after briefly greeting him.

"Zzz… *Snore* Mmmh…"

… Seriously? He was sleeping? I also heard whispers of the other members discussing this scenario. Chatot didn't take heed to the mumbles however, instead thanking him for his wise words. He then redirected his attention to us. "Alright everyone, it's time for the morning cheer! "

Everyone got their voices ready as they repeated the three basic rules of the guild. "ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!" Chatot seemed satisfied enough, even though this was really noisy again. "All right, Pokémon! Get to work! "

„HURRAY! " Everyone cheered once more before probably attending to their duties. I felt a little left out because I didn't know the chants of this place, but Soto didn't as well as well as considering we're the new guys here, so I had that going for me, which was nice. I guess. As Soto turned around and gave me a questioning look, I answered with an unsure grin.

"So… We can explore anyplace we want, right?"

"Well, we'll have to take a job for that. Then we can search through where we go to our hearts' content, I guess…" He seemed a little satisfied and motioned over to the ladder when Chatot, still standing at his spot even after the guild master returned to his chamber to sleep –What else could he do at the moment? And why was he still snoring? Was he up all night and playing games or something? – jumped over. "Hey, you shouldn't just be wandering around. You two come here. " And while Soto's eyes were filled with confusion and annoyance for having his plans altered, I merely shrugged – well, as much as a Shinx could shrug – and we both proceeded to climb the ladder as well, taking a turn to the right at the first lower floor until we stood before one of the job boards.

"You're just beginners. We'll have you start off with this assignment. "The parrot then gestured towards the plank. "This is the Job Bulletin Board. Pokémon from various regions post job requests here. You're aware that bad Pokémon are cropping in greater numbers, right?"

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yup. Because the flow of time is getting messed up. It's wreaking havoc, right? Which is why lots of bad Pokémon are appearing!" I noticed Soto frown with his eyes, but the expression disappeared as soon as I believed to see it, so maybe I was mistaken. Chatot seemed pleased with my answers however, as he continued.

"Precisely. Time getting out of whack has caused an outbreak of bad Pokémon. Perhaps because of all that we have noticed an increasing number of jobs. Also, even if we don't know for certain if the disturbances in time are the cause… We have noted an increased number of geological and overall natural activities. These can cause a phenomenon called… Mystery Dungeons." Ah, these things… Soto might not know about them, so I'd try making sense.

"So! You know where we were inside to retrieve my Relic Fragment yesterday? (I called it like that – Interesting, eh?) This Beach Cave can by this definition be called a Mystery Dungeon as well as it changed its interior compared to one other time I've been inside it. And however you take it, these changes don't necessarily mean some collapsing ceilings or floors; it can even be something like shifting walls. It's still being researched how all of this works, so I can't give you too many details myself… But it's amazing. There are so many things yet to discover, isn't it exciting?" I felt myself being swept away by this joy again; I couldn't control it. Something was bothering Soto, but he masked his worries again, so I wasn't sure what it could have been.

"Exactly", Chatot interrupted my thoughts,"you do know this. It saves me the theories, thank you. So, as your first job…" He scanned the board intently, picking one of the notes pinned onto it. "How about this?" he suggested, handing me the paper. I skipped through it and held it so both my partner and I could read. It was a request by a Pokémon named Spoink and the job was located in a place called Drenched Bluff; he wanted the job taker – us – to retrieve a pearl. But not any trinket like one would assume; it was his precious and dear pearl from his head. How did he lose that thing…? It was attached to his head! Didn't it even grow onto it? And what kind of job was that?

"That is just a fetching quest!" I exclaimed angrily. "I get that we're trainees, but we aren't some lost-and-found!" But Chatot's opinion was very different. "Shush!" he shouted while flapping his wings, thus startling us. "Objection overruled. You are apprentices and have agreed on our terms, so you'll do what I say you to do." "But… What about new, foreign places…" I stammered weakly. Soto then raised his voice. "I concede this point to him. Shouldn't we do something more challenging to hone our skills? After all, we-" He couldn't finish his sentence.

"No buts! You are going to work or you may quit. Soto, I trust you understood Calan's explanation and exemplification?" Soto nodded with slightly clenched teeth. "Good! Then you're off – do your best! "We both resigned and moved out to fulfill this stupid mission.

* * *

Upon arriving at Drenched Bluff, the two Pokémon were still unsatisfied, thinking this was all below their skills. But both of them realized they had no choice as they began their descend. It was good for them that there were hardly any Pokémon on the walls, but more of them on the flat areas as they used these wild creatures as training. They also decided that they could work on learning new moves to further their abilities – Calan tried to sharpen his senses towards the air's voltage to refill his strength by absorbing it, but failed as he hardly felt anything; the weather was too sunny outside. This still taught him to retry it during a storm as there would be enough to practice by then. After noticing his failure in logic, he then tried to put more power into his Bite in order to transform it into a more powerful Crunch. He read as a cub that once you've trained a move enough, it would become a lot easier to transform and then take over the new power and technique; completely learning the new ability. After explaining these basic principles to Soto as well after he wondered about the efforts of the Shinx, the Riolu also tried something new by concentrating his power into an open palm – Calan realized he tried to learn Force Palm, a move so powerful it could even leave your enemies paralyzed and unable to move from the shock and pain. It was especially handy if you tried to stun strong opponents to run away, trick them or get them into a long series of attacks. This intelligence and focus as well as Soto's speed in learning impressed Calan enough to make him put even more effort into his practice.

As they were beating up aggressive inhabitants of the bluff, they hardly noticed time passing and even descending deeper and deeper was enough fun for them. Both of them were surprised when they came across a beautiful, quiet little well and almost fell into it; when they tried to drink a little, they discovered a pink sphere which was around 17,5 centimeters in diameter – Spoink's pearl. Sotoridas (who took the job of carrying the treasure bag) just picked the item up and stored it inside their bag. After taking a little sip and cleaning himself a little bit using the water in the pond and rearranging the orange scarf he put onto his arm, he was ready to go and waited for Calan. When both were ready, they made haste to leave as night fell down rather fast; making them wonder how much time they spent exercising there.

Darkness enveloped the guild as they returned, the torches lit and cracking. Their client was also awaiting them already, overjoyed when re-receiving his belonging.

"Thank you so much! I wouldn't know what I'd do without my precious pearl… You saved my life! I tried to search for it, doinging and sproinging around which gave me some scratches and bruises – but now we are finally reunited!" he went on for some minutes, expressing his gratitude, praising the duo, and finally giving them their reward: Some Protein, Calcium, Iron, all of the named liquefied in bottles, and also an astounding sum of 2,000 Poké! While Calan gawked at all the money in awe; Soto was impressed by the vitamins.

"I-is it really okay for you to give us so much? This is extremely expensive…" the feline one stuttered.

"Of course, of course! This is nothing to me compared to the value of my pearl! Now, if you'll excuse me… Farewell, you two!" And with this, Spoink bounced into the direction of the ladder leading outside. After staring at the money and vitamins respectively for some minutes, the partners got out of their stupors and Calan started laughing out loudly.

"We're rich! We're rich!" Calan chanted. Soto remained rather collected, but still allowed himself a small expression of joy in form of a chuckle. That was, until Chatot who had observed the scene hopped over, looking exuberant as well, and started talking. "That was fine work, you two; very well done! Now, hand over the money, if you please!"

This caused the two to freeze again. "Wait… What…?" They pierced him with their disbelief.

"Most of the money from the jobs goes to the guild master, you see! After all, you'll also have to pay for being apprentices, which takes food, lodge and lessons into account. But since we're not completely heartless, we'll leave you with…" he took almost all of the money until merely 200 Poké were left in Soto's paws.

"Wait, we're left with 10%!? That's cruel!"

"The bird simply shook his head. No, these are merely the guild's rules. You'll have to deal with it. And now, before dinner is ready, you two will go ahead and make me some coffee! "

The apprentices were not amused at all, but remained obedient and finished the general chores until the bell rang for dinner time. Well, a bell would be inaccurate, for Chimecho only shook her head a little to use the bell-like mechanism on the top of it. She then called everybody with her soothing voice that reminded Soto of the wind running through classic wind chimes, an object introduced to him when he was small which used the basic principles of Chimecho's anatomy. There were none of these Pokémon where he used to live, after all.

When they got into the dining hall (Which was located on the opposite wall of the trainees' rooms in the great hall in B2F) all Calan was capable of doing after taking their places was drool at the abundance of fruit in their bowls. They didn't see the great, wooden table with enough space left for three possible guests, seeing as Wigglytuff was dancing around with a huge apple, nor did they notice the storage nearby or the other members standing equally hungry in front of their food; all they focused on was the starting signal given by Chatot as everyone dug in.

Soto eyed the berries skeptical, but after a quick smell and a small bite, his eyes went wide and he couldn't hold back anymore. This was something he'd never tasted before; where he was from, they didn't really have time to cook all that much, but this was so delicious he first thought he might have died at some time.

The apples were big, juicy, crisp, and at the exact perfect stadium of ripeness to have a very sweet, but also slightly sour note; the Oran Berries were a perfect addition to this and added their spice, bitterness, and dryness to the pool of flavor; their texture was also just soft enough to not break your teeth, but still so hard that it gave one enough to chew and enjoy. The Pecha Berries were the opposite of this; they almost instantly disintegrated on your tongue while filling your mouth with sweetness. There was some Cheri Berry juice poured over the food here and there, not too much, but still plenty to waken your senses and preventing you from being overwhelmed by the natural sugar contained in the rest of all. Soto also discovered some pieces of dry Chesto and bitter Rawst Berry while enjoying a little pearl of dried Aspear Berry mousse at the base of the bowl, which he eagerly mixed with the rest of the contents of his fruits basket.

It tasted so good, so good, so heavenly good! He didn't even care that some juice left his muzzle and dripped onto his fur, or that his paws were getting all sticky – this was the best food he had ever tasted, no contest. The taste was so exquisite, so rich, so energizing; it sent shivers all through his body. This combination was such a pleasure to his tongue that it brought tears to his eyes and he ate as if he had been starving for days. Well, he had in fact aside from some small apples they ate at Drenched Bluff, but it had only reminded him more of his hunger even if he was more than used to fasting. But this filled him up like nothing else – it was truly a feast. And he wondered if this was the amount of food everyone got every single day…

While he was feasting in an almost furious way, Calan looked at him in shock. Sure, he hadn't been with him for too long, but Soto always wore his mask carefully and never gave away too much. Seeing him eating with such force was astounding, even more as he didn't care for his looks. While he still was eating everything and didn't let anything go to waste, some pieces of fruit stuck to his torso and arms and the juice was splattering everywhere. He wasn't cultivated right now – he was starving the whole time, Calan realized. This whole activity while trying not to waste anything was smearing his silky, shining fur even more with his food's blood. He seriously had to wash himself later or he would be carrying half of his bead around with him in the morning.

Once they were all stuffed up – even Soto had to stop at one point of time after noticing that too much food would slow him down and take too long and too much energy to be digested, and he was quite embarrassed by his behavior – everyone went to their rooms, sleepy by the day and needing to convert their stomach contents into energy; this applied to the Riolu as well, after much blushing, washing and brushing of course. Everyone had chuckled a little at the rashness the Riolu had shown after all of his behavior, but they kept their comments to themselves and wished each other and everyone a good night. As Team Lightning Nova lay down, Calan decided to start a conversation once more.

"You know, this was an eventful day… We attempted learning new moves, took on and fulfilled our first job, received our first payment… I admit that it still bugs me that most of our money is taken, but I guess that's the way it is. And hey, we're allowed to keep the items, eh? And judging by the look on your face after receiving them, you were satisfied by them too. And the food here is incredible! You seemed to enjoy it yourself a lot, hehe…" Soto had already gone to sleep though and didn't hear the tease. Calan looked at him and smiled, then drifted off into his own realms himself.

* * *

The next morning was almost the same as the first one, except this time Loudred expected my attack and managed to dodge before I could attempt to break his jaw. It seems like I still have to get accustomed to the fact that he didn't mean any harm by his idiotic, dangerous and very loud way of waking us, but I was too used to being attacked in my sleep. After his complaints (Which were even more annoying than the day before), he left us and we put our scarves on, our eardrums still ringing and complaining. After another overly joyous morning assembly – it was still unnerving for me to see everyone so relaxed and even happy after Loudred's yelling in these early hours – I shot a quick glance at Calan, hoping to be able to go where I have to. But no, Chatot was interrupting my plans again. No, I didn't mind at all, my plans were of no importance anyway. Don't mind this Riolu here who tries to –

"Soto? Why are you spacing out?" Calan inquired curiously. Oh, the friend-interrupts-an-important-trail-of-thought-cliché? Great. Well, it didn't seem like a good idea to keep the parrot waiting anyway, so we hurried to stay in his sight, ascending the ladder and taking a turn to the… left? Calan noticed this as well and immediately asked for an explanation.

"Well, it's just boring to always take jobs from the same board, now is it? "he spoke, swinging his tail in a foreign tact again. Whatever was in this bird brain of his was apparently always singing a song or something; the tact was way too accurate to not to.

I inspected the papers on this bulletin board curiously and noticed that additionally to the regular runes, there were portraits on every single note. I froze temporarily; this was all too familiar. You don't mean…

"Yes, these are wanted posters of dangerous criminals." Chatot explained after noticing the look on my face. He was good at reading other's faces (Or at least better than the Shinx next to me); normally no one noticed anything, which was why I practiced this for so long. I had to watch out for him; he wasn't as dumb as I first assumed. Well, I guess that was to be expected of the right-hand man here.

"Your assignment for today is to capture one of these villains! And as there are still more things to learn, you'll get one of the older students as tutor for the day. Now, because the guild master and I will be too busy and almost all of the other apprentices have their own jobs to do, there is essentially only one left… Bidoof!" he called. He heard some heavy breathing and the beaver Pokémon who always stood in front of our living alarm clock was running – I didn't need to see him to hear his quick, unsuppressed pawsteps. He was catching his breath when he arrived and listened closely to the instructions given to him; after that, Chatot introduced us. "Bidoof, you've surely noticed the new trainees here? These are Soto, the Riolu, and Calan, the Shinx. They are the newest additions to the guild and called themselves Team Lightning Nova. I want you to show them Treasure Town and help them deciding on and capturing a racketeer."

Bidoof barely could contain his excitement as he nodded. After Chatot left, he began bouncing and sobbing and laughing, all at the same time. What an interesting fellow.

Calan seemed caught off guard by the tears. "H-Hey! Are you okay? Why are you crying?" he asked worriedly. Bidoof, still with watery eyes, said barely understandable: "I-I was the newest member here and I get to show you around! I feel so honored to be allowed to be your senpai…" Our _what_? He sniffed two or three times and seemed normal after that. Wow, these mood swings. This was going to be a lot of fun. After he regained his composure, he motioned for us to follow him. I sighed to myself – were we newborns who had to follow the mother's lead? First Chatot, now Bidoof – who was next, a Hypno in the woods?

We arrived on B2F. Even though we were here three times, I never got the chance to take a better look around. As I was used to by the few times we spent here, there was the guild master's room to our left (A little behind us, of course, we were a little inside the room) with Chatot in front of it – he was very busy indeed, but still ignoring us -, as well as the crew member's rooms while the dining hall was to the right – that was all my brain could remember from the fatigue and haste. A little to our left, almost right at the wall in front of us, was this overly loud Loudred – Well, what could you expect from his name – standing next to a hole in the ground. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what it was for, though. Exactly to our right there was a big stone formation looking like a Croagunk's head, and the life Pokémon was standing inside its open mouth, working on a big iron pot containing a suspicion-rising violet liquid. Flowers, grass and other plants were all over this place, making it look a lot nicer and welcoming than the neutral, menacing cave it would have been otherwise. _What some small windows can do_, I mused.

While I was deep in my observations, Bidoof was pointing out the things we all knew – the location of certain rooms while was talking some nonsense about 'saving your game'. So life was a game to him?

As it seemed, he was done with what he had felt he needed to tell and was going back to the ladder while we hung behind him. We were outside again – somehow, it still relieved me; I was paranoid enough to believe this construction could collapse anytime – and descended the stairs again, turning right at the crossways at their base. This had to be where this Treasure Town was to be located and I already spotted something in the distance. It took us around five to ten minutes to arrive inside this location and it was impressive for me. There were several buildings shaped like the Pokémon inside them, making it easy to differ between their purposes. This time, I decided to listen to Bidoof's recitation, but Calan just decided to take the chance to speak, pointing to every shop while naming the owner and use. There was a bank run by a Duskull, a "Link Shop" -Whatever that is – owned by Electivire, a shop for every possible item of two Kecleon brothers – one normal colored, one purple with green marks plus a blue belly band instead of the normal green and yellow combo with red – and a store with a Kangaskan most Pokémon simply seemed to call _mom_, _mother_ or other names similar to these. Furthermore, there was a Marowak keeping a training dojo, a Chansey attending to a hatching station for Pokémon eggs and a Xatu serving customers in a business that opened boxes that were sealed in a special way. Aside from that, there was of course a plaza, some streets and a few houses, some perhaps inhabited by the shopkeepers and others by the normal townsfolk. And this city was so alive that it was even more overwhelming than the guild! I felt my anxiousness rising again – huge masses of Pokémon unnerve me if they don't show their intentions clearly. Every customer could charge at us at any second, the chatting group over there was possibly discussing the best way o an assault, these rescue teams –

_Stop it right now_, I told myself. After all, being too nervous wasn't healthy nor would it do me any good – it may have risen the suspicion of the village or of my acquaintances. I calmed down before Bidoof or Calan could redirect their attention to me.

But when they did, I gave them an understanding nod, trying to appear impressed and understanding. They seemed satisfied and Bidoof told us to take a tour around town and every facility and then returning to him to choose today's goal while he returned to the guild.

"Well, that gives us some free time before work. Shall we?" Calan asked invitingly. I just nodded while he went over to a Vigoroth. They exchanged formalities and I was half forced to introduce myself. This all happened with other Pokémon as well – including the guild members -; there were even some other exploration teams as well, like Swellow and Wurmple. I still wondered how these two got together…

After we got to know everyone here, Calan was still very enthusiastic. "Okay! Now, let's go to Kecleon market. As I told you before, they sell all kinds of items and gear. Visiting them is a must before every adventure to sock up on things necessary. Let's go!" he exclaimed. His energy was a little tiresome, but admittedly refreshing. I felt myself taking a liking towards him - Maybe I could really try and become friendly with –

_No. I mustn't falter and doing otherwise would be cruel to both of us._, I reminded myself, all the while keeping a situation-fitting poker face. By now, we were facing the duo of lizards who gave off a welcoming, overexcited aura. "Welcome to Kecleon Market! Is there anything we could do for you?"

"Well, we could use some items, of course. What have you got in stock?" Calan replied. The green brother took a glance at his list and then named a few things. I stopped him in mid-sentence. "You have Reviver Seeds to sell?" The brothers smirked knowingly, praising these items. Being fully restored by chewing one of them while being nearly unconscious is handy after all. "Okay, how much do you want for one of them?" They were pleased and knew _this_ right away. Okay, I understand business, but they sure loved money. "800 Poké. It's actually rather cheap if you consider the purpose if you ask us." I winced a little on the inside. Sure, it was not too much, but looking at our budget, it still was. We only had the leftover money from Spoink's job and that wasn't that much of a fortune. Normally, I wouldn't have cared for money, but this chance was just too good to let it slip – nobody knew me here and I didn't have to be just as cautious. Calan pulled out some money, counting the coins, and looked depressed as well. "I'm sorry, Soto, but we can't afford that right now…" It really bothered him. His ears were hanging down just like his star-pointed tail; he usually held them into the air. He was kind… Hopefully that wouldn't backfire on him. _Or even more, on me_, I added.

I appeased him and the merchants by saying we would gain more money after this job when two other Pokémon arrived at the scene; an Azurill and a Marill. They and the Kecleon seemed to be acquaintances as they immediately started a conversation ending with the little ones buying an Apple and having it placed in their pouch which was carried by Azurill (Surprisingly enough, he didn't have arms, let alone hands to carry it, but he managed somehow). Afterwards, they bid their farewells and left. The shop owners faced us again.

"Aren't they adorable? These two are brothers and are looking after their sick mother right now. They do the chores, the work and everything! Quite responsible for their age, don't you think?" Well, they just adapted to the situation, although I'll admit it being great for them to share the workload. I then saw them heading towards us in a hurry again, informing greenie that there was an apple too much. They were so… honest. Back when I was a human, I would have just taken the apple, grateful, but not mentioning anything in case someone would take it back again. No one could afford presents like that. But the purple one just laughed the remark off and just handed it to them as a present. The children accepted it gladly and something in these gestures was warming me from the inside. This was what I was trying to protect. I didn't like that world I came from and had to sustain that peace. Well, except for Azurill falling over at a rock on the street, the apple rolling towards me. That was one thing I didn't want to happen. I sighed with a smile and picked the fruit up, returning it to the little brave guy who almost looked like he didn't even notice he fell over and kissed the street with all of his face. When I gave the item back, I allowed myself to ruffle the Boy's fur a little, giving him a reassuring grin. He was just too adorable, this warmth and inner calmness I gained from these brothers was all too pleasant.

That was… Until _that_ feeling hit me again. It was like I had an upset stomach from five month old milk with apple juice and Vinegar plus mashed old overly sweet Pecha Berries while having a pounding headache in a carousel along with someone hugging your belly really hard. I would have preferred this warm, cozy feeling as this dagger of the mind cut through this blackness my eyes were covered in as I heard a little, young voice scream.

"H-h-h-HELP!"

The sensation was over as quickly as it came along with the side effects, not even a third of a second had passed. I didn't even stagger at all. Why did this activate right now? This child couldn't possibly have anything to do with –

And I must have gone paler than a Dewgong because Calan interrupted my thoughts again. "Hello? Earth to Soto!" I snapped out of it and shot him a questioning glance. He was wearing a worried expression as he pointed out my facial color which even outshone – or, in this case, outpaled – my facial hair – _fur, dang it_, I corrected myself. After I reassured him and the others I was fine, Azurill thanked me again and hopped away, towards his waiting brother who was standing on the bridge ever since he got to know the chemical composition of the ground. What the heck did just happen? _Okay, eliminate the impossible and the remnants are the truth_, I repeated. What was impossible? Well, there certainly wasn't anyone who screamed for help here, Calan, and all of the brothers would have noticed. It surely wasn't my imagination either… So it could only be my special ability. But why?

Calan forced me out of my thoughts _again_ – My, he surely wasn't too patient, we had to work on that – and suggested we could return to the guild and get today's job done and off our backs. Right, there still was this to take care of. We said goodbye to the twins – well, close enough, and moved in the direction of the crossing to the guild when we noticed the little guys from just some minutes before talking to a Drowzee. The tapir Pokémon was just confirming something when Calan checked on the situation again. It seems this guy – was it just me or were there almost only male Pokémon around here up until now? – had spotted a precious item these children had had lost and was willing to help them. Something about this was off though… I was skeptical because of my previous life and something here was reeking of a trap. Was it the way Drowzee was talking like? Or maybe that grin – it seemed false. Either way, when they tried to go away, I stepped forward and reached out a hand – no, paw.

"Thank you for helping these children with their search. That is truly admirable." He looked a little confused, but regained his composure as he shook it. "It's no big deal; we have to help each other after all in these times of crisis. Now if you'll excuse me." He murmured. As soon as he was out of sight, I looked at my paw again, not too surprised the experiment worked. My suspicions were correct; this new vision told and showed me everything I needed and even more.

This scream full of pain and fear I "heard" before… This terrified message…

It was Azurill's.

**Author's note: Goodness, this chapter refused to be written. I had the scene with the scream in my head ever since I started this, but I'm terrible with leading towards things like that. Anyway, I apologize for the long wait and hope you had fun reading.**


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